Lara shuddered as she crawled on her hands and knees through the twisting, narrowing ice tube that led from the interior of the cave to the outside world.  At least she hoped it led outside, because there was nothing but death for her inside the cave.  The ice creaked and groaned continuously, always alive, always on the move, never still, never silent.  The cold seeped into her bones, even though she was regulating her body temperature. 

The layers of ice, white and blue, were difficult to see without the light from the sconces lighting her grandfather’s grandiose chambers.  She had her father’s excellent night vision as a rule, but she was crying so hard, the tears blurred everything and fear compounded the shadowy figures that weren’t really there.  With the biting cold, she could tell the tears were turning to ice on her face, freezing her skin

The cries of the dragons became muted, and she unconsciously strained to hear them.  She didn’t want her aunts to die.  She hesitated, thinking to go back to help them, but what could she do?  Shaking, she huddled in the ice tube, frightened to go forward, terrified to go back.

The mountain trembled, shaking around her.  For a moment her lungs seized, burning for air.  She heard the cry of the dragon, a pain-filled shriek that rose through the caverns, and then the answer as the second dragon bellowed in anguish. 

She covered her face with her hands.  There was no going back now.  The aunts hadn’t gotten away and Xavier was punishing them.  His punishments were terrible.  She had no idea what lay ahead in the outside world, no idea what to expect, but it had to be better than living the way she’d been living.
Her wrist throbbed and she rubbed it, forcing herself to look ahead, not behind her.  She was terrified the sun would burn her as Xavier had always told her.  The sun was a huge burning mass of magma, churning and terrible, waiting to set her on fire.  She shuddered and began to crawl again. 

Almost immediately she heard the whispers start.  Voices.  Muffled.  Persistent.  Ugly.  Monsters will eat you.  The sun will fry you.  Your skin will melt off your bones. 

She pushed herself to continue, to inch forward.  She became aware of the cold seeping into her body, destroying her ability to think clearly and forced herself to try to regulate her body temperature.  The further she got from the ice cave and Xavier, the more she realized her father must have been helping her maintain her body heat.

The climb to the surface was endless, her knees scraped and bloody by the time she reached the next level.  The tube branched off in two directions.  She had no idea which way to go.  Above her head the mountain groaned and creaked with the pressure of the weight of the ice.  All around her ice broke off and showered shards down on her.  She sat in at the junction in the tunnel and tried to figure out which way to go.  She couldn’t just sit there.  Xavier would send something terrible after her.  She was certain he already had.

Spider, spider my friend who is bright
Spider, spider, help me this night
I need direction, I’m in doubt
Spider, spider, show me the way out

Tiny ice spiders, lethal, with poisonous fangs, rushed from the cracks of ice, dropping down to console her.  They fanned out, their silken, crystalline webs sparkling in the dark, catching light from a source she couldn’t see and dazzling her with displays of color as they rushed along the walls of the tunnel, spinning webs to show her the way along the left hand tube. 

She heard scratching behind her and knew she was minutes from capture.  Her heart beat too fast, slamming hard in her chest, her blood roaring like the sound of ice breaking in her ears.

Spider, spider, help me now
Remove the threat to me somehow.

An army of spiders broke off from the main body to rush behind her, spinning webs fast, building a barrier across the tunnel, thick and strong and glistening with poisonous threads. 

Lara scrambled after the other spiders, following the dazzling silken threads along the walls.  Without having to worry about what was ahead, or where she was going, she traveled faster, crawling at a rapid pace in time to the slamming beat of her heart.  The tunnel angled down as it wound back and forth in various directions, taking her back toward the way she’d come and then abruptly swinging to the opposite direction.  Openings broke off in every direction so that it was a labyrinth she knew she never would have been able to maneuver on her own.  The spiders made it easy, lighting the way with their glittering threads.

Wind touched her face.  Icy flakes of ice bit into her exposed skin.   Shivering nonstop, her teeth chattering, she crawled until there was little flesh left on her knees or the palms of her hands.  In front of her she saw light.  At first she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, but as she continued forward, more light spilled into the tunnel.  The walls widened and the ceiling was much higher.

She stood up, her body aching, tears frozen on her skin.  She ran, chanting.

Spider, spider, thanks to you all,
A debt to you, I will recall
Ask me when you have great need
Spider, spider, and I will heed

Lara picked up momentum, running faster and faster, frightened that now that she was so close, Xavier would find a way to stop her.  The opening loomed before her and she ran toward it, never seeing the drop off.  Her bare, bloody feet hit empty space and she fell with a thin, scared scream, dropping like a stone to the snow below. 

She landed hard, the air driven from her lungs, her eyes widening in terror as a large animal reared up, legs slashing the air above her head.  A man rushed around the animal, calming it with a gentle hand and looked down at her, terrified, bloody face.  His expression changed to one of kindness and concern.  As if she was a frightened animal, he bent slowly toward her and lifted her body into the warmth of his arms, crooning to her in a language she didn’t understand.

A woman appeared, dressed in a long skirt and she drew off her wrap and pressed it around Lara’s shivering body, speaking to her husband in the same language.  He carried her back to the colorful wagon they were traveling in.